Toyota wants you to drive a hydrogen car. That is why it has been reduced to 60%.

“Mirai” is a Japanese word that can be translated as FutureWhich makes its selection as the name of Toyota’s symbolic car significant. When it comes to hydrogen technology, and which has not performed so well in the international automobile market, the main reason is its high prices. It has become so bad that the future of production of these cars at the Japanese brand may be in question.

Toyota Mirai is an FCEV car, fuel cell electric vehicleThat is, a vehicle that runs on a hydrogen fuel cell, giving it greater autonomy than cars that use only batteries (BEV). battery electric vehicle, Mirai and Hyundai Nexo are two high-end FCEV cars that have tried to enter the market in Europe and the United States, but have not had much success so far. This explains the Toyota promotion, which has started in California with discounts of up to 60%, and which could reach Spain at any time.

60% discount and 650 kilometers of autonomy

To get an idea of ​​the position of FCEV cars in the automotive market, Perhaps it is enough to mention that only 7 units of Toyota Mirai and 1 unit of Hyundai Nexo were registered in Spain in 2023That is to say, Spain still has more hydrogen stations than hydrogen cars (which are only 12), and some are still under construction.

The situation is a little different in the United States, where Toyota should have a large number of units in stock of the second generation Mirai due to hit the market in 2021. This explains why California was chosen for the launch A promotion with discounts of up to $27,000 (25,000 euros) per unit will position the Mirai to compete with electric cars like the Tesla Model 3., These rebates have reached $40,000 at some dealerships, which include another Hyundai promotion, such as providing free hydrogen fuel for the first three years, or as much as $15,000.

With similar promotions, the Toyota Mirai in Spain will cost around 40,000 eurosConsidering this, currently its base price is around Rs 82,000. A discount that could encourage sales of these cars in areas with the greatest purchasing power.

High prices and limited number of hydrogen stations

FCEV cars, such as the Toyota Mirai and Hyundai Nexo, run on hydrogen fuel cells where a series of chemical reactions generate electricity that can power a battery or go directly to one or more electric motors (in the latter case, Hydrogen cells also work as batteries). These are cars that can reach a range of more than 600 kilometers. And refueling them takes the same amount of time as a car with a conventional combustion engine. This autonomy offers a huge advantage over electric cars, which take their time to charge the batteries even with the fastest systems.

There are two factors that limit further sales and marketing of hydrogen cars: high prices and lack of service stations., Prices for hydrogen fuel cell cars are above those of high-end electric cars, which in turn are higher than those of cars with gasoline and diesel engines.

And on the other hand, Even in countries like the United States, hydrogen charging stations, known as hydrogen stations, are rare., For example, Spain has only 12, of which 7 are private and 3 are still under construction. However the government plans to build 150 service stations in 2026.